Pride goes before destruction…— Proverbs 16:18 (NAS)
The recession was continuing to take its toll. When more of the decorating magazines I’d worked for ceased publication, I took another good, hard look around my cabin. In the twenty years I’d styled homes for photography, I’d seriously blurred the boundaries between work and home. Besides the countless props I owned, my shelves were lined with hundreds of books on interior design and my basement served as a library of photographs of clients’ homes and published articles.
Somewhere along the way, I’d lost my sense of priorities. Worst of all, the clutter—all necessary for the job I’d held—drained my physical, mental and creative energy. I learned that clutter makes everything more complicated. It also makes you disorganized, lowers your self-esteem, robs your peace, takes a toll on your most precious relationships and leaves little room for new ones.
The first step in reclaiming my cabin meant relinquishing my pride. For two decades I’d prided myself on having any reference an editor or client requested. When a call came to style a home, I could do it with props I single-handedly owned. I also prided myself on being a perfectionist.
But now all that stuff simply defeated me. Making decisions as to what to keep and what to throw away, sell or give away is hard work. In my struggle to rid myself of meaningless materials, the fear of not “doing it right” immobilized me.
Then a wiser Voice broke through my prideful confusion: If you can begin it, you can do it, Roberta. Don’t sabotage yourself before you even start. By taking that first, tentative step, I was energized to take another, and then another.
I give my pride to You, Lord Jesus. Help me to strive for excellence, not perfection.
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